On Saturday night in front of a raucous crowd at the Malkin Athletic Center, Corinne Bain prepared to serve, up 13-9 in the fifth and final set against Yale (15-4, 9-1 Ivy). Having broken the 15-year old Crimson record for aces in a single season against Brown (9-12, 5-5 Ivy) on Friday, the freshman belted down two huge serves to secure Harvard’s (12-7, 7-3 Ivy) first victory against the Elis in twenty attempts.

“The players were in tears after the match,” co-captain Natalie Doyle said. “The coach was in tears after the match. This was the first win [against Yale] since 2004. We have worked so hard to be the top of the Ivy League and this just proves that we are the best team in the Ivy League.”

With the victory over the Bulldogs, the Crimson completed a weekend sweep, having also bested the Bears on Friday night by three sets to one.

HARVARD 3, YALE 2

Yale traveled to Cambridge on the back of 25-straight conference wins stretching back to the 2011-12 season as the dominant force in Ivy volleyball. But, through two and a half hours of engrossing play, a casual observer would not be able to tell you which team entered as the favorite as nothing could separate the two teams.

None of the first four sets were decided by anything less than two points as the teams went toe to toe with each other. For everything Harvard threw at Yale, buoyed by an increasingly rowdy cheering section as the match went on, the Bulldogs kept coming back.

The Crimson won the first set, 26-24, only to see Yale narrowly take the second, 28-26, after the home team almost came back from 20-16 down. The teams then traded sets again to set up a tense final set.

“What really did it was everyone did their jobs,” Doyle said. “We didn’t try to do anything fancy. Everyone kept it simple, we played our system and we played the best volleyball we’ve ever played.”

Throughout the game, both teams refused to give away easy points and there were many long rallies. The Harvard hitters had a career night, often bailing the team out with a string of improbable and impressive kills.

Sophomore Kathleen Wallace paced the Crimson with 22 kills as she combined with Grace Weghorst and Caroline Walters to produce 59 kills and .434 hitting percentage on the night.

“To know that when things were crazy and there were a lot of rallies we could just get the ball to them and they would get a kill—that was incredible,” said junior co-captain Kristen Casey. “If the rallies are long and your outsides are struggling it’s always tough, but that was never the case for us today.”

For the first time in the entire match, the Crimson was able to gain separation from Yale, setting up Bain to serve for the win. When Weghorst spiked the game winning kill, fans and players alike stormed the court in celebration of one of the biggest wins in recent program history.

It places Harvard firmly second in the Ivy standings and loosens the stranglehold Yale has held on the conference over the past couple of seasons. The future is bright for the young squad.

“This program is going to continue to win,” Doyle said. “We’re a young team and everyone puts their heart and soul into this team. The team chemistry is so huge. We care about each other on and off the court. It doesn’t matter if one person’s having a good game or a bad game—it’s the team. People really understand that mentality.”

HARVARD 3, BROWN 1

The Crimson outclassed Brown on Friday night, avenging the loss from earlier in the season.

Last time, Harvard had no answer to the Bears’ right side hitters but this time the team came prepared and the adjustment proved too much for the visiting squad.

“Last time we played them, their right sides were really successful against us and we knew going in that we had to shut them down and we really did,” Casey said. “We shut down their right sides and they really didn’t have any other options to come at us with or any sort of plan B.”

During the second set, Bain broke the program’s single season record for aces set by Lolita Lopez ’98. The freshman has also recorded three triple-doubles on the year, which stand as the only triple-doubles in program history.

“It’s incredible [that she broke the record] but Corey does so much for us that her serve isn’t even the main thing on our minds,” Casey said. “She wears so many hats. She’s got a lot on her shoulders for a freshman and she’s one of the most mature, poised freshmen I’ve ever played with.”

—Staff writer Julian Ryan can be reached at ryan.julian93@gmail.com.